Bryson books a wry look at the Arabs

The Arab world is lined up as the next target for the spectacularly popular sardonic travel writing of Bill Bryson.

After describing journeys around Britain, Australia and America, Bryson is considering a new book looking at the lifestyle and culture of the Middle East.

'I spent some time in Syria and Jordan and I thought it very interesting,' said Bryson, who spoke at the Hay Literary Festival yesterday. 'I was spending time there because of a walk I was doing with the charity Barnardo's and I would love to go back. There are so many interesting things out there.'

The author later told an audience of more than 1,000 fans at the festival there were plenty of other areas of the world he had not yet visited, but that he might well 'chicken out' in the end and write next about Canada - a safer option.

'It is much, much easier for me to make fun of people in wealthy countries like Canada. I have a problem writing my kind of book about Third World countries.'

Bryson, who spent time in the Syrian capital, Damascus, said the new project would depend on the safety of travel in the Middle East, but would provide a perfect 'change of pace' after his latest book A Short History of Nearly Everything, a survey of landmarks in scientific thinking.

'I did the book about science because I wanted a change of pace, so it would be good to do another travel book. It would be a good idea financially too, I think.'

Bryson, an American who has lived in Britain, is returning to this country with his family this year and is buying a house in Norfolk.

'My reasons for leaving America are nothing to do with politics,' he said. 'It is about the education of my children, but George Bush certainly doesn't make it hard to leave. I was disappointed by Clinton, who could have been a good President, but Bush is an imbecile. The best thing he could do is retire.'

The author, originally from Des Moines, Iowa, has become a publishing institution following the success of his multi-million selling book The Lost Continent. Bryson said he is now resigned to writing in the same humourous vein from now on.

A charity book, African Diary, which came out last December following his visit to the 'largest slum in Africa', the settlement of Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya, was badly received, Bryson believes, because he is expected to provide jokes.

'The response to the book made it clear to me that reviewers would not let me write seriously.'

The former newspaper man's current book on science was inspired, he said, alternatively either by looking out of a plane at the moonlit sea and wondering why it was salty, or by looking at his son's chemistry textbooks and wondering why they had to be written so boringly.